Book Description
From one of the world's premier architecture critics, a groundbreaking dissection of how the colossal egos of the powerful and wealthy determine what actually gets built--of the real reasons why we build.
Architecture critics most often write about buildings as a form of art, promulgating an "auteur theory" of architecture that focuses on the dazzling brilliance of the big names, such as Rem Koolhaas and Frank Gehry, and underplaying the role of the wealthy and powerful in forcing the architects' hands. Deyan Sudjic puts forth a boldly contrarian view. Architecture must be understood as an expression of power and as a weapon, or form of propaganda, that is used in ways both subtle and grandiose as a means of achieving and maintaining power--of carving a legacy out of glass, steel, and stone.
While most architecture books focus on a certain building or a specific architect, The Edifice Complex takes a wide-angle look at a fascinating range of buildings and large-scale building schemes--both the impressively effective and the disastrously ill conceived. In a lively and wonderfully accessible narrative style, Sudjic takes readers behind the scenes of the stories of the great political manipulators of architecture in the twentieth century, from the great dictators of fascism--Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin--and their megalomaniacal plans for rebuilding Berlin, Rome, and Moscow, to power-broker businessmen such as Nelson Rockefeller; and from the "theme park" propaganda of the presidential libraries to the vainglorious symbolism of Saddam Hussein's Mother of All Battles Mosque. While some leaders have used architecture as a means of consolidating control over a nation, others have employed architecture to shape a new national identity, as Ataturk did to a large degree of success in Turkey and the shahs attempted and failed to do in Iran.
But what of the architects? Sudjic also examines the role they play in lending their talents to these efforts, from those who have all too willingly aided and abetted, such as Albert Speer, to those who have courted the powerful while remaining true to their art, such as Mies van der Rohe.
The Edifice Complex offers a brilliant reinterpretation of the role of buildings in our lives and of the age-old question why we build.
Customer Reviews:
Reveals Monolithic Minds.......2006-06-12
The individual sentences of this book are written in a literate, engaging style. The author is a master of the telling figure of speech. For example, he compares some architects' broad, over-the-top creations to books published in large-print. However, the paragraphs often follow a somewhat difficult zigzag course. Reading along them is like trying to get a zipper back on track. Sudjic refers now to an architect - now to his predecessor - now to his replacement.
Nevertheless, this book is worth the concentration it takes to read it through. When you finish, you will have a better insight into the minds of many dictators and tyrants than a whole host of psychology books can offer. After all the analyses of Hitler's motives that have been put forth, after all the anguished Holocaust questionings of "Why?" - this book gives one of the most revealing looks into what might impel such savage destruction. You will see the drive these men have to clear away diverse individuality and to replace it with monolithic constructions designed to memorialize them for the ages. It's Ozymandias all over again and again.
There are also good chapters on less weighty building projects - such as the various Presidential libraries. And for mystery fans, you will even find a good true-life murder story here.
I just wish the publishers of this book had gone to the extra expense of including pictures. It would have been valuable to see the buildings that Sudjic refers to as he describes them.
My only other criticism is that when all is said and done, Sudjic still seems to subscribe to the idea of architecture as a great man's sculpting projected large upon the landscape. He seems to approve of Brasilia, for example - with all its incommodious vastness of space and structure. Sudjic would do well to incorporate the ideas of urbanologist Jane Jacobs into his analyses. But you can compare the philosophies yourself. After reading this book, get a copy of Jacobs' "Death and Life of Great American Cities" for a more complete understanding of how form really must be made to follow function.
It makes you look at buildings differently.......2006-03-22
Mr. Sudjic is an architecture critic. In this book he talks about the buildings that the wealthy and the powerful have put up to honor themselves. He writes mostly of well known things: the designs Albert Speer did for Hitler, Saddam Hussein's Mother of All Battles Mosque (to celebrate Iraq's victory in the First Gulf war - Yes, that's right, victory), the designs of the Presidental libraries in the US, Donald Trump's various constructions.
Beyond understanding more about these buildings, it makes you take a different view of what's going on around you. For instance their is a new sub-division of McMansions being built in the town where I live. They are ugly, stupid, tacky buildings, no originality at all. They are not identical, in fact all are different; but they all look just alike.
And you think of Bill Gates $30 million house in Seattle. And the tower at Stanford University sometimes called 'Hoover's Last Erection.'
A good read without untranslatable archibabble.......2006-03-08
This is a very readable book that moves quickly to new projects and players without getting dull. The only drawback is a lack of illustrations but the writer is so good at description that it allows you to easily understand the experience of each building project.
Most of the major works are already well known and written about extensively elsewhere But compiling them here with the authors perceptive analysis makes for good reading. I suggest searching the internet for pictures of the more interesting projects.
I was also impressed by the scope of the book. Rather than limiting himself to one geographic area or the best known examples of architecture used for control or ego enhancement, Sudjic includes worldwide examples with relevent background information.
Sudjic also attempts to make sense of the motivation of the architects involved. Can an architect produce architecture without being drawn in to the politics. Are the architects of despots fellow conspirators, enablers or simply earning a living. Does the ego of the architect, in many cases of questionable talent, make them easy prey for those seeking to build an architecture of oppression. In each example Sudjic makes use of the information available to try to clearify this as well as the motivation of the rich and powerful who commission such architecture.
Ultimately this is a book that will appeal not only to those knowledgable in architecture who are familiar with the cast-of-characters but also those who just want a very interesting book.
Edification.......2006-03-05
Learned from it and loved it. Highly recomend the book; you'll never look at buildings the same.
A joy!.......2005-12-14
This book is not only informative but highly entertaining at the same time. One would consider this a high quality journalistic piece rather than cerebral thesis. As the title said appropriately, Deyan discussed the significance of architecture in humanity. Some architects and urban planners would design buildings and city plan to facilitate civilisationn whilst some would twist these disciplines to endorse their idealogies, expressing their yearning for immortality. Naturally, a few meglomaniacs such as Chairman Mao, Stalin, Saddam Hussein, Hitler, Miterrand, Mussolini and many others are featured in length. There were also discussions about the "superarchitects", of why they become so, of why they have become their own worst enemies, of why some have let egos get the better of them (namely David Childs from SOM versus Daniel Libeskind regarding the construction of Freedom Tower on Ground Zero). I truly say that after reading the book, I'm more informed of the architecture around me. Suffice to say that it's ideal to read the book now where the featured projects are still fresh and up-to-date. In another five years or beyond, it might become less convincing to the younger generation despite that the essence of architecture shall remain the same. As one should know, architecture takes a long time to evolve. If you refer to Palladio design, it's still a fresh as it was concocted few hundred years ago. A book written with conviction and passion by an enthusiastic but knowledgeable author who shares with eager and enthusiastic reader like myself. Highly recommended and look forward to a sequel if there's such a thing. The only improvement I can comment is probably including pictures of those mentioned buildings as reference. In doing so, the book become more interactive and even more effective. What a joy!
Average customer rating:
- The Power in Stone: 21st century architectural version of "The Prince".... awesome!
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The Edifice Complex: How the Rich and Powerful--and Their Architects--Shape the World
Deyan Sudjic
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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ASIN: 014303801X |
Book Description
A provocative look at architecture—"exceptionally intelligent and original" (Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World)
Deyan Sudjic—"probably the most influential figure in architecture you've never heard of" — argues that architecture, far from being auteur art, must be understood as a naked expression of power. From the grandiose projects of Stalin and Hitler to the "theme park" excess of today's presidential libraries, Sudjic goes behind the scenes of history's great manipulators of building propaganda—and exposes Rem Koolhaas, Frank Gehry, and other architects in a disturbing new light. This controversial book is essential reading for all those interested in the power of architecture—or the architecture of power.
* A Washington Post Book World Best Book of the Year
Customer Reviews:
The Power in Stone: 21st century architectural version of "The Prince".... awesome! .......2007-06-26
It took me some time to figure out what the Edifice Complex meant.
I first thought, being an "English Patient" in the realms of
English-speaking world, edifice complex meant something like "Sports
Complex". Later I found out that it was a derivitive of Oedipus Complex,
that there is a psychology in a poweful man, an urge to make a mark, a
desire to control, and an ambition to build. To build big and high.
I found this book particulary interesting because it focuses on the
side of clients, their hidden chambers of obsessions, disguised in
the form of political beliefs, orchestrated and realized by the hands
of architects. Plenty of different types of influential clients and
their episodes are portrayed.
Some stories are old (or well known)and some stories are new. To the old
stories, like that of Hitler/Mitterrand/Hussein, Sudjic gave a different
bent, to the new and lesser knowns, like that of
Mao/Rockerfeller/Agnelli/ US Presidents, Sudjic wrote electrifying lines.
Another remarkable aspect of the book is the political skills of many
past and current star architects. Johnson/ Pei/ Piano/
Koolhaas/ Gehry (and many more mentioned in the book) are illustrated as
true Machiavellian architects of this century that have tongue and pen to
realize the dreams of their Princes.
In the conclusion, Sudjic sums up by showing what kind of prevailing
architectural garments are out there for different political strategists.
The author also kindly guides us to the further readings that pertain to
the subject matter of the book.
One thing that made my head skew: Why are Blair and Libeskind beaten
when, in contrast, following French President and English Architect
mentioned in the book are promoted? Does it explain Sudjic's political
stance and his allies? Just a thought...
Book Description
Figurative images have long played a critical, if largely unexamined, role in Africa--mediating relationships between the colonizer and the colonized, the state and the individual, and the global and the local. This pivotal volume considers the meaning and power of images in African history and culture. Paul S. Landau and Deborah Kaspin have assembled a wide-ranging collection of essays dealing with specific visual forms, including monuments, cinema, cartoons, domestic and professional photography, body art, world fairs, and museum exhibits. The contributors, experts in a number of disciplines, discuss various modes of visuality in Africa and of Africa, investigating the interplay of visual images with personal identity, class, gender, politics, and wealth.
Integral to the argument of the book are over seventy contextualized illustrations. Africans saw foreigners in margarine wrappers, Tintin cartoons, circus posters, and Hollywood movies; westerners gleaned impressions of Africans from colonial exhibitions, Tarzan films, and naturalist magazines. The authors provide concrete examples of the construction of Africa's image in the modern world. They reveal how imperial iconographies sought to understand, deny, control, or transform authority, as well as the astonishing complexity and hybridity of visual communication within Africa itself.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from African Studies Quarterly, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2004. The length of the article is 904 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Images and Empires: Visuality in Colonial and Postcolonial Africa.(Book Review)
Author: Jeremy Rich
Publication:
African Studies Quarterly (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2004
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 7
Issue: 4
Page: 68(2)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
In 1967, Lunar Orbiter Mission 4 sent back to Earth a superb series of photographs of the surface of the Moon, despite severe degradation caused by scanning artifacts and the reconstruction processes involved in transmission from lunar orbit. Using 21st century techniques, Charles Byrne – previously System Engineer of the Apollo Program for Lunar Orbiter Photography – has removed the artifacts and imperfections to produce the most comprehensive and beautifully detailed set of images of the lunar surface. The book has been organized to make it easy for astronomers to use, enabling ground-based images and views to be compared with the Orbiter photographs. The photographs are striking for their consistent Sun angles (for uniform appearance). All features have been identified with their current IAU-approved names, and each photograph has been located in terms of latitude and longitude. To help practical astronomers, all the photographs are systematically related to an Earth-based view. A CD is included with the book, providing the enhanced and cleaned photographs for screen viewing, lectures, etc..
Customer Reviews:
Like drifting above the Moon in a spacecraft!.......2006-03-16
The good news is this is extremely well done. The (to many) annoying frame boundaries and scan lines have been removed to the greatest extent possible without removing essential information. I particularly like the contrast enhancement and other software tricks that have been applied to present each photo in its best light.
To see what I mean, take a look at "The Process used to clean up scanning artifacts" on the accompanying CD.
The coverage is very thorough, though there are a few irksome "misses" that were unavoidable due to the nature of the orbiter's path.
Any "lunartic" is going to enjoy this reference book. From the visual standpoint it is a superb job and one wonders why it was not done years ago. Likewise, there were other missions whose results would benefit from this treatment, although their coverage was different and less complete. In any case, I find this an extremely interesting and valuable resource.
The bad news is that the index is bad. To find a named feature, it's not always possible to use the index (many important and common ones are missing: e.g., Aristarchus, Eratosthenes ...).
To wander through the photos in a predetermined path (without reference to a specific feature) is also a chore at times as the organization is according to the original photo numbers and not to an overlaid organizational scheme such as a high-level map. It is easy to get lost and it is sometimes hard to find your way out again. Since the processing is so well done, this is less disheartening than it would otherwise be ... I find myself staying "lost" on purpose sometimes, discovering vistas I didn't know were there before losing my way. But to a technical writer it's discouraging to see such potential missed for lack of a truly good index.
Producing an IAU Nomenclature-based index would be a great project for someone with the time!
The book comes with a CD which I haven't found to improve on the printed index: the indexes that are on the CD are PDF files that are NOT linked to the actual photos, so to use them you need multiple windows open on-screen simultaneously. It would have been far more convenient to provide the indexes in html form with links to the proper photographs.
On the plus side -- and it is a HUGE plus, in my opinion -- both medium- and high-resolution images of each photo are on the CD and they are gorgeous images, especially given the technology used to produce the original photos.
All in all, this is an extremely valuable reference, and one I am using almost daily. So perhaps I am being a bit nit-pickety here. It's only the indexing bit that prevents this getting my 5-star rating: If I could award it 4.75, I would.
Book Description
The far side of the Moon, also called the "dark side of the Moon" was unknown to humanity until the Luna and Lunar Orbiter pictures were returned to Earth.
Even since then, its nature has puzzled researchers. Now we know that a giant impact struck the near side with such force that it created the “near side megabasin”, opening the way for floods of mare and sending vast amounts of ejecta to the far side. The Far Side of the Moon explains this event and also documents the appearance of the features of the far side with beautiful pictures from Lunar Orbiter.
As in the previous volume, The Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Near Side of the Moon, the author has taken the original images and cleaned them of system artefacts using modern digital image processing. The best photographic coverage of the far side of the Moon has been the 150 photos taken by the Lunar Orbiter series. The other sources are pictures taken by the Apollo Command Module, which were limited to the equatorial regions, and the Clementine mission, which took pictures at a high sun angle that washed out the topography of the features. Until now, the far side Lunar Orbiter photos have only been available with strong reconstruction lines, but appear here for the first time as complete photographs, unmarred by imaging and processing artefacts.
Also, this is the first book to explain in detail how the far side was deeply covered by ejecta from the Near Side Megabasin and modified by later impacts.
A CD-R accompanies the book, and contains all the enhanced and cleaned photographs for use by the reader in screen viewing, lectures, etc..
Average customer rating:
- Funny and sweet
- Someone Like You
- Always puts a smile on my face - like Ruth!!
- A must-have for anyone with a decent sense of humor
- A great book
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The Pretty Good Jim's Journal Treasury: The Definitive Collection of Every Published Cartoon (Definitive Collections)
Scott Dikkers
Manufacturer: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0740700073 |
Book Description
Five books after the popular comic strip Jim's Journal was first bound, we now present The Pretty Good Jim's Journal Treasury-and it's okay. Actually, this collection is much more than okay. Comprehensive, featuring Jim's life as it progressed (or not) through his first five books, this special edition contains previously unpublished material including Jim in living color. No longer in syndication, the complete works of Jim's Journal will be a definitive must-have collection. College students rave about Jim's Journal, making it one of the most popular Generation X-oriented strips in history. Readers have grown along with Jim, as he moved from copy-store to grocery-store clerk, feigned interest in stamp collecting, faced frequent harassment from phone companies wanting him to switch his long distance service, and finally got married. From the beginning, Jim's message has been "Aren't comics dumb-even this one?" Yet even though it pokes fun at itself, the strip extols the virtues of a slacker lifestyle: Jim has a menial job, a cat, and a few friends. He doesn't do much. In fact, Jim's Journal was slacker before slacker was cool. Postmodern and minimalist, the quirky Jim's Journal has been featured inThe book collections I Went to College and it was okay; I Got a Job and it wasn't that bad; I Made Some Brownies and they were pretty good; I Got Married if you can believe that; and I Feel Like a Grown-up Now. In this jam-packed Pretty Good Jim's Journal Treasury, readers will find the same understated and unpredictable style.
Customer Reviews:
Funny and sweet.......2005-04-07
I've never written a review of a book before (at least I don't think I have), but I just had to lay down my feelings about my favorite comic strip series. The whole anti-humor is a bit confusing to me as I don't think I've ever laughed as hard at a comic strip as with the "Jim" strips. Maybe the anti-humor thing comes from the refreshing lack of cynicism.
Jim's life feels real -- it's like watching another person's life unfold with all of their personal thoughts out in the open. You become attached to Jim as he goes through his mundane daily activities. The humor, weirdness and sadness in Jim's life resonates more because you feel you are connecting to a real person rather than some wise-ass talking cat.
If you like 'Pathetic Geek Stories' and 'Life in Hell' you'll love this book. If you can't find the collection make sure to pick up the five individual books offered on Amazon.
Someone Like You.......2004-03-05
Who is Jim? For ten years, readers of selected daily newspapers wondered that same thing. Even more, though, they wondered, "Why is Jim?"
"Jim's Journal" was a ten-year-running comic strip which revolved around some average guy living an average life. He had average friends, worked average jobs, and did pretty much less than you or I do on your slowest day. Only, Jim kept a journal, where he would write all about what he did.
"I made some brownies today," he would write. "They were pretty good."
"Mr. Peterson [Jim's cat] ran into the other room," would be another typical entry.
"Today, I took a nap. I woke up at 6 o'clock and wondered whether it was day or night."
And those were the punchlines. There were no jokes to speak of. Only snippets of a boring day. However, there was something redeemable about Jim... He was the pinnacle of Anti-Humor! He wasn't funny, he did nothing remarkable from day to day (although he did get married, in a three-strip special entry)... and yet, this collected edition of all the published "Jim's Journal" cartoons is tremendously difficult to find without paying a premium price, even though it is less than 10 years old!
Readers fall in love with Jim, despite himself.
Always puts a smile on my face - like Ruth!!.......2003-06-03
I find this comic strip absolutely hilarious, as well as charming, poignant, life-like, and sometimes a little melancholy. College students will relate to many of Jim's mundane life experiences, but so will many others simply growing up and living day to day. Jim himself is definitely an observant little fellow, who quietly finds humor in the cliched, sometimes obnoxious sentences his surrounding workmates and friends constantly spew out: it's these moments within the strip where I can't stop laughing. Mostly, though, Jim relates more sober moments about walks, work, eating, his cat, daydreaming, sleeping, and the life and times of his handful of friends. Jim is just a normal guy who probably unconsciously holds back his real emotions in his journal, with the result that the other characters come across much clearer. Speaking of Jim's "handful of friends," here they are:
Tony: the funniest dude in the strip. Where Jim is quiet, Tony is louder and more obnoxous; where Jim simply observes life passively, this guy has an opinion about everything, and is sure to tell anyone within his path how he feels. Tony is famous for going through phases and boasting about how smart he is (drinking 6 glasses of water a day; collecting coupons to save money; attempting jobs to conquer the world, etc., etc.).
Steve: this guy also has his funny moments; he's kind of like a much less aggressive Tony, perhaps somewhere inbetween Jim and Tony in terms of personality. He has academic problems at first, but seems to eventually find his niche.
Ruth: Jim meets Ruth at McDonalds, and the rest, as they say, is history. Ruth is cheery, fun-loving, somewhat non-descript, and sort of in the background most of the time, even when she's hanging around with the rest of the crew.
Also of note is Mark, Joel, Julie and Hal, all workmates of Jim, and all very distinct personalities.
It's hard to say who would latch onto Jim's Journal and who wouldn't, but I know I liked it from the very beginning.
A must-have for anyone with a decent sense of humor.......2002-09-17
I fell in love with Jim in college. One night, several years later, he popped into my head. I got out of bed and started looking up Jim's Journal on the internet. When I found this book, I was ecstatic!! It was so great to read some of my favorites that I remember from college.
Also, if you're a cat-lover, Jim provides some poignant, yet hilarious, reflections on owning a cat.
We all have a little bit of Jim in us.
A great book.......2002-08-08
If you haven't heard of Jim's journal and you ended up here because as a fan of the Onion you wanted to see what Scott Dikkers once did, then you're in for a pleasant (or unpleasant time) people are completely polarized by Jim - either you love the strip or you hate it. I love Jim. Don't bother buying any of the single collections when you can own the whole Jim Treasury. Also included in this book (and missing from the other stand alone books i.e. I got married, I made some brownies) is an introduction for each of these books in the collection. Plus you get various insight into the characters and strip from Dikkers in some revealing passages that are both laugh out loud funny and kind of sad. If you are a fan of meta comedy - i.e. comedy that is funny because it is done in such a blank fashion that its hard not to laugh - if only for the absurdity of the whole thing - then this book is for you. If the idea of a comic strip where the punchline for a strip is "when I woke up from my nap I was even more tired than I was before" leaves you scratching your head - then you should probably buy some Marmaduke or Garfield. Maybe a collection of Hagar the Horrible would be best. On the other hand, if you like things that don't always make sense - buy this book. You'll love it.
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